Hello! :D I'm back with another part of my Korea Travelogue! :)

Here's another MUST GO attraction when you visit Seoul~ It is none other than the Gyeongbokgung Palace!

Presenting to you the five main things you gotta do when you are at the Gyeongbokgung Palace :)

1. Reach Gyeongbokgung Palace before 10am! :)

We woke up early and took the subway to: 

Gyeongbokgung Palace Station (Seoul Subway Line 3) Exit 5 

or 

Gwanghwamun Station (Seoul Subway Line 5), Exit 2 

Admission fees: Do set aside 3000 won for the entrance tickets :)

- Hours: Mar.-Oct. 09:00-18:00, Nov.-Feb. 09:00-17:00

Remember to reach by 9.45am so you can catch the 10am ceremony of opening of the palace gate and guard changing procession.

Remember to grab a map before heading into the palace as it is HUGE!!! 

2. Do catch the Palace Gate Opening Ceremony & the Guards Changing Procession :)

We were just in time! Teehee! Nearly missed it though :p 

First place you should head to once you enter the palace would be the traditional costume experience pavilion! It's free to try on the traditional costumes so it will definitely be brimming with tourists like you and me :) So.. be kiasu and head there to write your name there on the list first! >.< Helps you to save alot of time!

3. Try out the traditional costume experience! :D It's free!

And so we were the 2nd batch for the day! :D

While waiting for our turn, we do what we usually do best teehee~! PHOTOTAKING!!

And here's a family portrait! <3

Muahahaha.. Guess who? :D

Taadaaa~! Transported back in time back to the Joseon Dynasty! :D More pics with our costumes! 

Xuan & I decided to choose the guards suit! Something different from the usual hehehe.. Nice? :D

The costume was huge and heavy though lol!

Ending off our goofy pics with two funny guards hehe!

Oh yes, point to note! You only have approximately 10-15mins to take pics in the costumes so while waiting for your turn, do make sure your camera settings are set properly and think of the possible poses and photo backdrops (don't bother moving too far away, it's too tiring with the heavy costumes haha)

4. Take lots of pictures in the beautiful palace!! :D Here are some of the pretty spots we found!

Doesn't this wall remind you of the dramas where the guards scale the wall and jump to the other side? :p

And we found a mini forest hehe!

Check out the cute kids who were out for a school exercusion! How cute can they get? Holding hands and obediently following the two teachers :)

And the beautiful palace interior! :D Really colourful and pretty!!

예쁘다!! <3

And a cute pic with the cute guard who is so stern and serious :x Xuan's expression is too cute! lol!

And the last and final thing to do would be:

5. Eat Samgyetang at Tosokchon! YUMS!!

So.. what is Sangyetang? It is none other than the famous Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup! :D You will have to exit from this gate and walk to the shop called Tosokchon! It's roughly around 15mins walk.. It can get rather hot during summer so do reapply your sunblock whenever you can!

We asked around to navigate our way there! :p

Here's some directions on how to get to Tosokchon Samgyetang Chicken :)

Read online that if you were to head there from Gyeongbokgung Station (Seoul Subway Line 3), Exit 2, walk 120m towards Hyoja-dong direction, then you will see GS25 (a convenient store) on your left. Make a left turn and walk straight till you see Tosokchon. It should be quite visible as there’s always a queue if it’s lunch time. :)

 

Passed by a Caffébene outlet! So tempted to head in to chill but we were in a hurry to beat the lunch crowd so.. we had to forgo it! :(

And yup, it's indeed highly visible by the sight of the long queue beside the convenience store haha..

The address is 85-1 Chebu-dong, Jongro-gu, South Korea Tel: 02-737-7444

Although the queue was rather long, we were determined to try this out! :) Do not be deterred away by the long queue as the queue moves rather quickly! The restaurant was huge! So..we got to the front of the queue in around 20mins hehe.. You will be given a card number for your table which you will need to produce to make payment thereafter :)

Here's the interior of the restaurant~ Nice right? Something special? :D

And here's the menu! 4 kinds of chicken soup with different kinds of chicken like black chicken etc etc.. Price ranges from 21000 won to 28000 won :)

We ordered two to share between the 3 of us! :D Really yummy!!! Love the lean chicken meat! It tastes really nourishing with the dried jujube and dates within my favourite glutinous rice! I miss this!!!! Would taste even more shiok during winter! :p

If you are wondering about what Sixuan ate, she had pizza from this pizza store nearby! :D Very affordable and yummy! Here's a vegetarian food option for those on a vegetarian diet :) It was so huge even Sixuan had a hard time finishing it given that she always manages to finish her food haha..

*Thumbs up* will give this pizza shop a try if i drop by again in future!

And after finishing our meal at Tosokchon, we proceeded to our next destination: Samcheongdong! :D For more cafe hopping! Do expect lots of walking! Haha.. That's all for this post! I will cover more on cafes in Seoul and other attractions on my Seoul Travelogue very soon!

Do stay tuned! I hope this post helps you when you are planning your itinerary to Seoul! Have fun!! :)

Do refer back to my Seoul Travelogue posts through the travelogue tab or the link below:

http://chloewl.blogspot.sg/search/label/Korea

XXOO